Lana Discusses Romance With Rusev, Total Divas Season 8

– Lana continues to make the media rounds to promote the upcoming season 8 of Total Divas. She recently spoke with Inquisitr’s Carter Lee about various topics including her romance with Rusev.

She reflected on meeting him the second day at a tanning business while in WWE NXT where he told her that he was from Bulgaria and she spent time in Bulgaria, which made them have an immediately connected.

“Then on the third day, I had a promo with Dusty Rhodes—he was the artistic director of NXT, and he ran all the promo classes and character development—and I had about five different pitches. My first one, I just started speaking Russian, and then I switched to perfect English. Dusty pulled me aside afterwards and he’s like, ‘I want you to work with Rusev.’ [Laughing] I’m like, ‘Rusev? Who is that? Oh, the tanning Bulgarian!’ I’m so passionate about the business, and I’m so passionate about storytelling, and I made him come to my house every day and practice promos and vignettes. We would shoot vignettes on my phone. I was a nut. A complete nut.”

She continued by stating that within two months, they were paired together on WWE TV and within a month, she had a crush on him. At first, she didn’t want to just start dating someone in the business and became friends then, later on, they fell in love. She added that he’s a very good man and has really great character.



– Season 8 of the show is slated to premiere on September 19 on the E! Network and will see a few changes to the cast on this season of the show as Alexa Bliss, Carmella and Maryse will not be returning to the main cast. Lana stated that wrestling fans should tune in because this season will feature the return of Paige and her retirement. She noted that Paige opens up, and her story is really powerful.

“Even if you know nothing about wrestling, she has a powerful story and I think that people should definitely tune in. It can inspire a lot of people’s lives. You’re also going to see me take a lot of Fireball shots, per usual, on my days off, which is always entertaining to watch. It’s a little wild. I mean, someone has to bring the entertainment, and apparently, I do a lot of that, for better or for worse. But you’re also going to see how I’m so happy about wrestling.”

She continued by stating that this season is full of ups and downs and has disappointment within the cast. She noted that it shows what they do with their setbacks as it will define their future and destiny. She hopes that it will inspire people and also be relatable. She added that although she’s not the strongest or the fastest or the best in-ring competitor, no one will stop her from achieving her dreams.